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Christmas is barely in our rearview mirror and as I sit here and think back over the last crazy month, one thing really stands out about my family…we love Christmas movies. I mean we don’t always agree; we have a standing argument on whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie, but overall, we have all grown up with iconic films as part of our season.
Movies like Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, It’s a Wonderful Life, Elf and Polar Express have filled our living rooms and our hearts during this time of year. My wife, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law even wrap gifts with the cliched sappy Christmas movie playing in the background. Yes, Hollywood has figured out a way to really cash in on this time of year.
Recently with more and more streaming services creating their own content, the holiday season has been even more inundated with jingle bell-type films. Some are really not too great, but last year Apple+ came out with a movie, Spirited, that is very good. It has already become one of our favorites around the Duncan household.
This year as we introduced it to my brother and sister-in-law, I realized it is so much more than the normal secular Christmas movie. I don’t believe they meant it this way, but if you look at the tones that run throughout the film, everything you need to understand the real meaning of Christmas is there.
By the way, Spirited is a musical. Watching Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell sing tunes to the updated spin on A Christmas Carol is hilarious. But many of those tunes seem to have so much more behind them. Like my daughter’s favorite, We’re Bringing Back Christmas. At first it looks just like a clever song to explain who the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future will haunt this year, but what really lies beneath is what Christmas has become: a commercialized, manipulative holiday.
It’s all about being persuaded to buy this or that, and to persuade people in a way that they really feel like what they are doing is for the best, most authentic Christmas. We like to believe that we don’t fall for these “Christmas traps,” but in reality, we know we do. Just take a second and check out Google to find out how much money was spent during this last season worldwide on Christmas. The powers that be over the years have turned Christmas into a cash-grab, keep-up-with-the-Joneses, holiday stress mess.
We fall into this “Christmas trap” because we want and long for what another one of the film’s fantastic songs is all about: that Christmas Morning Feelin‘. I mean, that’s what we want, at least most of us, right? Watching our kids come around the corner and see their faces light up when that thing they’ve asked Santa for is under the tree. Or you just seem to nail it one year and get your spouse the perfect gift. As she flips open the box that morning, there is no better feeling.
The problem is that Christmas morning feeling goes away in the blink of an eye. By the time the toddlers are playing with boxes rather than that expensive gift, it is gone. But what if we could have that Christmas morning feeling all year long? That brings us to the most important song on the Spirited soundtrack, Unredeemable.
I certainly relate to this song. Will Ferrell, who plays the original Scrooge in the movie, sings lines such as:
“Am I forever unredeemable? Can I ever overcome all the wrongs I’m running from? Can my worst be left behind? … Or will I only be unredeemable?”
I’ve felt that way. I may not have been Scrooge, but I have felt unredeemable. Some of you reading this have probably felt the same way. It is one of Satan’s best tactics, to keep us wallowing in that unredeemable state of mind, feeling like we can never be good enough. But as I sat there listening to that song being belted out on my TV, it hit me that this is why Christmas came to be. Christmas is God giving us the perfect gift that allows us to not be unredeemable. Through that baby born in a manger, God gave us the way to redemption.
The way isn’t through our own doing, but through this unbelievable gift of Emmanuel. We can’t overcome but He can. When He does, He will throw our sin as far away as the east is from the west. Now that is leaving your worst behind! Because of Him, we never have to look in the mirror and ask ourselves, “Am I forever unredeemable?”
This secular movie has become a fave for sure, but it is amazing how God can use any venue He chooses to deliver us His message. I am glad He sent this Christmas message to me as I watched this silly film on Christmas Eve Eve. It is just what I needed to remind me during this crazy time what Christmas is all about. I hope you have had a blessed holiday and will have a fantastic New Year. Talk to you soon in 2024.
